Crossbench Lords flooded with letters from Just Treatment supporters!
The government's Health and Care Bill - aka the NHS Corporate Takeover Bill - is currently making its way through the House of Lords for its committee stage, where the bill is being further scrutinised before coming for a full debate and vote.
This stage represents a crucial opportunity to push back on these dangerous plans. The political makeup of the Lords is different to the House of Commons; there are lots of "crossbench" peers - i.e peers who aren't affiliated to particular political party. If enough crossbenchers vote against the government, there is a real chance of forcing concessions.
That’s why a few weeks ago, we launched an ambitious letter-writing campaign which saw hundreds of Just Treatment supporters across the country writing and sending personalised letters directly to a target list of crossbench peers, urging them to oppose the plans. 📨
We started out with a list of 100 crossbench peers who had been most active over the past couple of years. Within a week of launching the campaign, supporters had collectively written to over 80% of this target list!
Then, we decided to expand the target list to include another chunk of crossbench peers who very recently voted AGAINST the government on the controversial Police Bill. A week later, thanks to the incredible efforts of Just Treatment supporters, every single peer on this expanded target list had been written to, with the vast majority receiving multiple letters! 👏
We know that the government's plans are deeply unpopular with patients, and through this letter-writing campaign we wanted to ensure that members of the House of Lords who have the power to determine the fate of the bill heard directly from NHS users about why they are worried. Supporters included personal testimonials and stories of the impact that the NHS had had on their life, as well as adding in tailored messaging based on research about each individual Lord to make letters as personalised as possible.
We have been blown away by the commitment to this action and the quality of the letters. To mention just a handful of highlights:
Some supporters went above and beyond with the number of letters they sent - like Martin who sent 20 letters, and Elaine and Chris who together sent over 50!
Supporters like Rabinda included some beautiful artwork alongside their letters (check out the photo above/to the left!)
One supporter got creative in order to get even more people involved in the campaign. Here’s what she had to say: “To help spread the word about this regressive bill and to try to sway as many crossbenchers as possible to vote against it, I organised a stall in the local town one Saturday morning with three friends. Armed with pens and my ready-made letters, we sent them to at least 90 lords. We desperately hope that the House of Lords does not allow this extremely damaging bill through. An American-style healthcare system is deeply unfair, extremely inefficient and expensive and is the complete opposite to the founding principles of the amazing NHS.”
Some supporters have started to receive replies from Lords, but we expect more in the coming days and weeks. We’ll be keeping a close eye on the contributions of crossbench Lords in upcoming debates as well as - of course - how they choose to vote.
A huge thank you to every single supporter who took part in this inspiring and crucial action to force members of the House of Lords to hear the voices of NHS patients!
We will continue to fight this dangerous bill until the very end - and have plans for further action in the coming weeks which we will share with supporters very soon. The campaign to protect our NHS and win a better future for it continues! ✊
Below is a small selection of the many powerful letters that have been sent 👇
